The victim was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds in his bed and investigators found the murder weapon, a .40-caliber Beretta handgun owned by Pulcine, discarded behind the hotel, along with another handgun owned by the defendant.

During closing arguments on Tuesday morning, Pulcine’s attorney accused police of bungling the investigation and failing to consider other suspects, while Assistant Prosecutor Charles Wettstein urged jurors to look at the evidence and use their common sense to conclude that Pulcine was the killer.

The men were employees of Osmose Utilities Services and were staying at the hotel while doing work in the area.

Strayer and his co-workers, Pulcine and his brother, Charles, Richard Sperrazza, and a foreman, were staying in three rooms at the Wingate. They had been there for a few weeks while working on concrete foundations for high-power lines and were about to head to their next job in North Jersey.

Strayer and Sperrazza, who were described as good friends, were paired up in room 404, while the Pulcines were across the hall in 405.

On the evening of Oct. 10, Strayer and Sperrazza visited a nearby restaurant for drinks and to watch sports. Strayer then went back to his room and went to bed, while Sperrazza returned later. Once he got back to his room, Sperrazza received a text from Charles Pulcine inviting him to their room to share fast food chicken they had picked up.

Sperrazza joined them in 405, but left briefly to grab a few beers from his room. The only person to leave the room while he was there was Larry Pulcine, Wettstein said.

Prosecutors allege Pulcine used a keycard to enter Strayer’s room while he was sleeping and shot him while Sperrazza was across the hall, though no one reported hearing gunshots and investigation determined a silencer wasn’t used.

Pulcine later returned to 405 and Sperrazza eventually returned to his own darkened room, climbed into bed and went to sleep.

When he awoke the next morning, he said he found Strayer bloodied and lifeless in the bed a few feet away.

Pulcine disappeared from the hotel for several hours that morning and claimed he went in search of a suspicious man he spotted after hearing that Strayer had been beaten up.

No DNA or fingerprint evidence tied Pulcine to the killing and no motive for the crime was revealed.

Pulcine was indicted in 2017 on charges of first-degree murder and weapons offenses.

Ivan S. Strayer II, 33, was shot to death in 2016. Larry Pulcine Jr. is on trial for the killing. (National Gun Violence Memorial)

Defense attorney Joel Aronow suggested that Sperrazza and Charles Pulcine should have been considered suspects and accused investigators of “confirmation bias” for failing to consider that anyone else other than his client could be responsible.

“They weren’t willing to consider any other theories,” Aronow said. “They were right and anything that could have affected that decision was not even looked into.”

He described testimony from Sperrazza in which he confirmed that he used illegal narcotics and drank to excess, and noted that a book about Satanism was found in his possession. Images downloaded from Sperrazza’s cellphone referenced murder and satanism, and nine days before the crime he sent a text message in which he spoke about wanting to kill someone.

The prosecution responded that these elements were taken out of context and didn’t relate to the crime.

Aronow also told the jury that a known drug dealer was staying in a nearby room that night and someone looking to buy drugs from him could have broken into hotel rooms looking for money. That search could have led them to Pulcine’s gun, then to Strayer’s room, Aronow suggested.

Wettstein urged the jury to see through the speculation and “razzle dazzle” offered by Aronow.

“A good story was spun, but when it comes down to it, those pieces are not the catalyst, are not the important parts of this case,” Wettstein said. “For his arguments to be reasonable in your minds as to draw a doubt, everybody would have needed to be in on this murder except for the defendant.”

Wettstein noted that Sperrazza was honest in his testimony and was clearly upset about Strayer’s death. He reminded jurors of a photo from the hotel showing Charles Pulcine trying to console a sobbing Sperrazza.

Larry Pulcine, however, had a different reaction after returning to the hotel and being told Strayer was dead. “Stone-faced, stone-cold. Nothing,” Wettstein said. “No surprise, no concern, no emotion.”

Wettstein noted that Pulcine didn’t call 911 or alert police about the supposed suspect he pursued out of the hotel or adequately explain why it took him six hours to return to the Wingate. While the defense argued that he got lost in the woods, Wettstein said he was simply hiding.

“The defense can’t overcome the defendant’s own actions and the reasonable inferences to be drawn from those actions,” Wettstein said.

He also noted testimony from Pulcine’s brother that he found the defendant packing his bags around 2 a.m. on the morning the body was found. The crew planned to leave later that day for their next work site.

Charles Pulcine described his brother as acting differently in the days before the crime, saying he was unpredictable, on edge, jealous and paranoid, Wettstein said.

As they have throughout the trial, members of Strayer’s family sat in the courtroom as the attorneys made their final presentations to the jury.